Making Me Work
by Otb13
Summary: Harry is the Master of Death, things are going well, until he keeps encountering one individual making him work harder than he wants to. Harry has a bone to pick, how will that go down.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

A.N: I do not own Harry Potter, Discworld, or Marvel. The only things I have are a lovely bunch of coconuts and this story.

Harry could only thank his lucky stars that he was alone in the middle of the forbidden forest when he united the three hallows. He'd returned to Voldemort's forest lair a year after the battle, after the procession of funerals and the redemption of the wizarding world to collect the ring. It was a hurricane of magical power that swirled around Harry, trees were being torn from the earth, leaves spinning like circular saw blades leaving deep scratches where ever they collided with something, and assorted detritus left from the death eaters acting like cannon balls as they circled. All in the centre of this, Harry had been levitated by some unknown power, without warning his body pulsed four times, first the Elder wand emitted a blinding blue light, followed by the stone, then the cloak, and finally Harry himself flashed brightly before Harry suddenly dropped to the ground unmoving and unresponsive to the tempestuous conditions around him.

It was three hours later when Harry finally awoke from the experience with a pounding headache and a sense of disorientation he normally associated with the not infrequent concussions he'd suffered throughout the years. As Harry groggily climbed to his feet he pulled his wand and cast a couple of pain relieving spells at himself, once done with that he turned on the spot and with only a brief disturbance, arrived in the entrance hall of Potter Manor. Met by Winky he handed over his cloak and headed up to the master bedroom to take a headache potion before falling onto the bed with a groan.

As Harry awoke the next morning he slowly moved and began his occlumency meditation to help make sense of what had happened the day before. The result was a rush of memories, frightened and startled by the tsunami of information, Harry broke from his meditative state.

"What the fuck!"

Breathing deeply, Harry gradually lowered himself back into the flood of foreign memories. This time he was forced towards one particular memory, sat behind a desk was a skeletal figure with blue balls of fire dancing in the eye sockets.

"I repeat, what the fuck!"

"HELLO MASTER, WELCOME TO THE REALM OF DEATH." The voice didn't make sense, the jaw moved but it was like a badly dubbed TV show, all out of sync, also add in the fact that the voice was heavy and ominous, reminding him of Godzilla's thundering footsteps, and it was disconcerting. Ironically Harry, once finished sorting out the small issue of a Dark Lord infestation and getting his own life on track, had returned to his muggle roots and truly wrapped himself in the modern world, taking the time to gain his driving licence and learn about a less magical way of life. He'd found the attention from beating Voldemort suffocating and he'd retreated from most people to be able to live a more normal life.

"So I united the Hallows then, that's what happened." Harry muttered to himself. "You here to explain the job to me then or just torment me." He addressed the skeletal figure in front of him.

If possible Harry would have said there was sure he saw confusion on the impression less skull. "WHY WOULD I TORMENT YOU MASTER?"

Harry sighed "You wouldn't understand, so what's the deal. Why am I here?"

Death stood and moved towards a row of shelves, indicating with his hand he intoned "THESE ARE THE SANDS OF TIME, WHEN YOUR SANDS ARE GONE, AS ARE YOU." Death pointed at an empty space on the shelf. "THIS IS WHERE YOU SHOULD BE, BUT NOW, YOU SHALL LIVE FOREVER, AGEING AS NORMAL, BUT FOR ALL PURPOSES IMMORTAL. REBORN WHEN INFIRM AND INCAPABLE BACK TO YOUR PEAK, TO CONTINUE YOUR ROLE AS MASTER OF DEATH."

Harry blew another sigh, this time of relief, at least I'll age normally he thought, can still pretend to be normal. Rather than having to be treated as a freak. "So what do you need me to do, wield the scythe, take charge of ferrying souls" Harry stated flippantly.

"NOTHING SO DULL MASTER, I SHALL DO ALL OF THE ONEROUS TASKS, YOUR ONLY TASK IS TO HELP THE SOULS OF THOSE IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO WARRANT THE MASTER OF DEATH. HEADS OF STATE AND SUCH."

Harry was elated at his revelation, seemed a reasonably stress free role, minimum time and effort requirements. "So what do I have to do with these VIP's? Bring them to you, swing the scythe at them, I feel like a scythe is necessary."

If possible Death would have raised an eyebrow at this. "YOU MERELY INFORM THEM OF THEIR DEATH, MOST PEOPLE ARE A BIT BEWILDERED ABOUT SUDDENLY BEING DEAD."

"Seems simple, anything else?"

"YOU NOW HAVE ACCESS TO THE MEMORIES OF THE MASTERS OF DEATH THAT HAVE COME BEFORE YOU, YOU SHALL ASSIMILATE THOSE MEMORIES AND LEARN FROM THEM."

"Very well, I'll be off then, see you soon." Harry was inwardly grinning, although not as fanatical about studying as one of his bushy haired friends, he was still excited about being able to learn about new, possibly esoteric forms of magic."

As the realm of death faded and returned to the expected visage of his bedroom, Harry smiled, things were looking up.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A.N: I do not own Harry Potter, Discworld, or Marvel. The only things I have are a lovely bunch of coconuts and this story.

It had been five years since Harry had been encumbered by the role of Master of Death. Things had been going well, He'd only had to be present for four or five deaths each year, a few snappy comments comforting the deceased and he was done. Life was good, he was rich, had experienced his, perhaps, excessive number of girlfriends, and was enjoying his life for the first time in forever. It hadn't been all sunshine and rainbows, he'd had his share of upsets. Mainly the split from the Weasley family, Ron had let his fame go to his head and turned into an all-round wanker.

Thankfully he was no longer making Hermione miserable, she's split from him at the first sign of infidelity, betrayed, she'd turned back to her first love, books. She was now on her world tour, visiting universities, libraries, and magical spots, learning all she could. Harry thought she would eventually end up back at Hogwarts, imitating her mentor and inspiration, Minerva McGonagall. As such he hadn't seen her for two years now, but he normally got a letter each month detailing her exploits. She was only one of three people that he'd shared his new position with, along with Neville and Luna. Well, not so much shared with Luna, she just knew, as always.

It was as he was reminiscing about his friends that he felt the familiar pull on his senses of an impending death, transfiguring his clothing with a flick of his wand into something more suitable for his position, he allowed the pull to envelope his whole body. He arrived in what appeared to be banquet of some sort, just in time to see the individual sat at the head of the table be handed a large decanter of red wine by a curvaceous red head. The leader, dressed in ceremonial military clothing, stood and pulling the redhead to his side raised the decanter to the heavens and made an egotistical toast to himself and his kingdom, before throwing his head back and attempted to drown himself in the Burgundy liquid.

It was mere minutes before the Dictator started getting short of breath, during this time the redhead had managed to disappear, unobtrusively slipping out, unnoticed by all but Harry as his spectral form waited next to the quickly expiring man. It was as the leader began to cough blood that others took notice of his difficulties and began to fuss over the man, despite all their efforts and the medics arriving it was all in vain, with one last withering breath the Dictator was released from the mortal plane.

The spectral form of the recently deceased man floated up next to Harry with a face that reminded Harry of Vernon when he was in a tantrum. "When I wake up I swear to god, someone is going to pay. How dare someone attack me!" The veins on his neck pulsing and his face growing even more puce coloured with every second.

"Afraid you won't be doing that old chap, you've bitten it, kicked the bucket, become worm food, however you'd like to say it, you are dead." Harry replied cheerfully. To be honest these deaths had long since stopped bothering Harry, most of these world leaders were dicks. Harry found that militaristic regimes had a high turnover, who would've thought that violence would beget violence. Obviously having to cart off an Eighty year old who'd dedicated their life to helping was a bit of a bummer, but Harry took the rough with the smooth.

"What do you mean dead?" continued the now pale faced and panicked spectre. "I can't be dead, I rule with an iron fist, I am in complete control, no one would dare oppose me." At this point Harry was growing bored, talk about repetitive, it didn't normally take this long for people to accept their fate. This guy must have hit a lot of branches whilst falling out of the stupid tree.

"Afraid it's a clear cut case of poisoning, you've been assassinated, but as a world leader, you get the pleasure of my company as a reward to help you transition to wherever you're going. Isn't that something to smile about, I mean, I only turn up for VIP's." If anything this didn't help matters, Harry's less than supportive nature seemed to turn the dictator's ire from the murderer to himself.

"So this is your fault. You've killed me, what did you want, you'll never lead my country. My people will hunt you down like a dog." It seemed that Harry was sighing a lot these days, people could be so exasperating. It was easier when Harry only interacted with Ron and Hermione, and even then he needed frequent breaks from the bickering.

"No, I'm the physical representation of death, at the moment you're a ghost, and thankfully by the time I've finished this sentence, you'll be gone. So shut up and stop wasting your time. You're dead, some red headed bird did you in, don't know why, don't really care why. Just deal with it and enjoy the next great adventure as some barmy coot said to me once." As Harry finished his little speech the ghost had already began to lose its finer details, the outline becoming blurrier, the colours fading to a more transparent grey sheen. Within twenty seconds the ghost was nothing more, disappeared to the next world to be judged, Harry didn't feel optimistic for a peaceful afterlife after the remarks the odious man had made. Without another thought Harry relaxed the pull he felt to this location and allowed himself to return to his bedroom, re-joining his conquest from the previous night. Being the Master of Death could be such a burden when entertaining guests or doing something important, or in this case both.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

A.N: I do not own Harry Potter, Discworld, or Marvel. The only things I have are a lovely bunch of coconuts and this story.

Over the next year things had picked up for Harry, if he were of a more bushy haired depiction he'd have talked about a 100% increase in death visits and some such rubbish. As he was just Harry, he was more inclined to point out the number of evenings, nights sleep, and general other activities it'd ruined and disturbed. He'd almost crashed his car twice because of the bloody inconvenient timings and worse still he'd had to stupefy three girls mid-coitus to leave, talk about disruptive and waking the girl up afterwards wasn't without its share of awkwardness.

To make matters worse, out of the 17 visits he'd made throughout the year, four of them had featured the redhead in close contact with the deceased, now Harry had nothing against a girl earning some money, but for god's sake, stop knocking off world leaders. Didn't she realise the amount of work she was making him do. Additionally, those four visits were just the occasions when she'd been in close contact, who knew how many more were as a result of long range action, only last week had Harry been present at a particularly messy long range assassination of the self-proclaimed Emperor of the Nile.

To be fair the prick had damned the Nile just within Egypt, and was attempting to extort all the countries beyond. Unfortunately the damn hadn't been caught before the water had amassed to a critical point where a sudden release would flood the farm lands of Egypt and cause food shortages for the next several years. The smeg head had also assembled a large army, all working towards a massive pay off, making the thing impossible to approach without seriously heavy weaponry, which only the G8 had access to, and Egypt being the proud country they were, wasn't about to run to for help from others. The thing was, Harry knew that the redhead was involved, she always targeted the worst of the people that Harry had to visit, and this guy certainly qualified, Harry just wished she'd act sooner before they became important enough to warrant his attention.

It was a beautiful summer day, and Harry was out with Teddy his now six year old godson at Legoland for a day of rides, exploring and messing about when the next demand for his particular skill set was evoked. Thankfully he wasn't stuck on a ride otherwise things could go south quickly. Rushing to the loo with Teddy, Harry locked them inside with a coloportus, quickly transfiguring a bed from a drinks can, Harry placed Teddy on it and then cast a sleep spell on Teddy to ensure he didn't run away. Allowing himself to be transported, Harry was deposited in a restaurant in central New York, watching as a very familiar woman, but this time with a brunette pixie cut hairdo and dressed as a waitress approached a table and placed the meals she was carrying down in front of two gentleman.

As the two men tucked into their starters both instantly dropped dead, apparently subtlety wasn't a factor on this one. Further thanks had to go to the dead men, both passed on within 30 seconds, without Harry having to do too much. Some were chatty, some were silent, Harry was just thankful they were gone. Not relinquishing the power anchoring himself to this particular location, Harry quickly moved through the kitchen, guessing where the killer had headed, with luck he managed to spot her as she climbed onto a motorbike, quickly nailing the girl with a tracking spell, Harry cast a disillusionment charm on himself and a broom he had enlarged that he kept handy at all times. Moving above the bike he carefully followed the girl back to a large skyscraper where he lost her heading into an underground garage. Taking that as his cue to leave Harry relinquished his grip on the location and returned back to the bathroom.

Trying to enjoy the rest of the day whilst processing all the information he'd found, Harry could envisage a trip to New York on the horizon, he could be tenacious in his search for answers. Harry took Teddy on one last ride on his favourite, the dragon coaster, before moving into the car park and driving them home. Harry spent a couple more hours with Teddy, cooking him dinner as he napped and then teaching him some basic magic and reading and writing skills so he'd have a head start when he headed to Hogwarts. Before long it was time for Teddy to head back to 12 Grimmuald Place where both he and Andromeda lived permanently after her house was destroyed in the war.

Harry then headed home back to Potter Manor which was located just outside London to research what he'd found and to pack his trip back to New York. From his research Harry found very little of note on the organisation he'd seen with the Eagle emblem, the public face seemed to suggest that the organisation dealt with protecting the US from Global threats, what this entailed Harry wasn't sure but apparently a very competent and busy assassin was a crucial staff member. Deciding that he had no choice but to visit, Harry moved upstairs and packed his trunk, deciding that going muggle would be wise to avoid awkward questions about how he got in the country in the first place. Moving to the Laptop he booked a first class ticket to New York for the first thing next morning from Heathrow, with a quick mirror call to Andromeda and Hermione, whom by now had taken up the role of charms teacher at Hogwarts after Flitwick's retirement, informing them of where he was going. Hermione offered him words of warning, guessing that it had to do with being Master of Death, whereas Andromeda told him to have a nice time and to bring back something cool for her and Teddy.

At 7am the next morning Harry apparated to the designated apparition point of Heathrow Airport, the magic and mundane worlds were actually quite interconnected if you knew where to look. Heading out from the concealed area into Terminal 5, checking in quickly and moving to the first class lounge. Harry waited and had a couple of drinks, avidly avoiding the offers to have a massage so he could hide the scars his body was marred with, he still abhorred being stared at and pitied. After only an hour of waiting Harry was walking along the gangplank to the British Airways 747. Being greeted and shown to his seat by a very flirtatious stewardess, Harry was optimistic about a very comfortable flight.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A.N: I do not own Harry Potter, Discworld, or Marvel. The only things I have are a lovely bunch of coconuts and this story.

After eight hours of flight Harry's plane touched down at JFK airport. Collecting his bag from the overhead locker Harry exchanged one last wink with the stewardess he'd been flirting with all flight before heading towards security. Applying a notice me not charm, Harry quickly moved through the line for security and without issue was passed through the rather invasive security questions by a bored looking TSA agent. Heading out from the terminal Harry once again moved to the front of the taxi queue with the aid of the notice me not charm. Whilst in the taxi Harry silently thanked Sirius for the lesson he had taught him of the benefits of the notice me not charm in bars, theme parks and alike, no one would be complaining if they couldn't really focus on you unless you wanted them too.

The taxi deposited Harry outside the Surrey hotel alongside Central Park. Harry had only chosen the hotel based on the name and internet reviews, with little regards to the location as he knew he'd be flying out to the S.H.I.E.L.D building for a bit more reconnaissance and to see if he could pick up the trail of the unnamed redhead. Unfortunately the tracking charm had expired since it was placed, Harry cursed at the lack of forethought he put into it when placing the spell; but as the saying goes hindsight is always 20:20.

After depositing his trunk and taking a nap and shower, Harry headed out of the building via the roof top smoking area on his Firebolt mk. 2 whilst covered in his invisibility cloak and maintaining a disillusionment charm on the broom. Whilst circling the building Harry took note of the large glass windows, the helipads offering a landing spot and the conspicuous lack of wards surrounding the building. Harry knew they had wizards here, but apparently they weren't a part of the security services as they were in the UK where many muggleborns, after failing to secure jobs in the wizarding world had returned to the muggle world.

These individuals were mainly shuffled into the Army, Royal Navy or RAF due to their lack of qualifications within the world they'd given up at eleven, fortunately it was quickly noted that these individuals were massively outperforming their other soldiers, after an in depth background check it was noted that these individuals had suddenly dropped off the grid when they were eleven and disappeared. As it turns out, the magical world, in their disdain of the muggle world, hadn't thought to provide a great cover for their students, leaving a massive gap in their records. Eventually one of those being interviewed broke their silence and confessed to their magical talents, regardless of the statue of secrecy, their thoughts being what had the magical world had ever done for them. The UK Government spared no expense in tracking down the other individuals of a magical nature, recognising how useful they could be. When these individuals had been collected, they were offered the chance to be tutored and receive an accelerated education and given a position within the armed forces in a special unit or within the UK security services. As a result, the UK had their important buildings warded and a squad of wizards working to protect the national magical interests. Unfortunately they were too few in number, only being 40 people strong, to be truly effective in the second war. However some death eaters did meet with the squad when they attempted to attack the Queen at Windsor Castle, they were quickly repelled losing many of their group. They quickly learnt not to attack the high profile targets without the back up of many of the inner circle or Voldemort, but even that was to be avoided in favour of easier targets.

Harry quickly looked inwards using his occlumency skills to see if the previous knowledge garnered from other Masters held any answers and discovered that the majority of the magical citizens of the US lived within a puritan society, completely isolated from the outside world. They believed that they would be victimised for their talents were they to live outside of their close knit communities. Harry could understand these leanings, after his experiences with the Dursley family, they hated magic and they couldn't be the worst of the magic haters.

Putting the issue aside, Harry continued his surveillance of the building, noting the multitude of cameras no doubt recording all those that enter and noting those that don't belong, he also noted the biometric scanners on the elevators and entry doors that required people to scan thumbprints and retinas. He knew that this level of security would be of little consequence to him if he were under the cloak, it would be more difficult inside the building however when people inevitably scattered, assuming that the biometric scanners continued, he was sure that most of these people wouldn't be sat in the same office as an assassin, Harry knew that he'd be doing some legilimency scanning to find out the level of knowledge of the red head within S.H.I.E.L.D. At this point Harry was just guessing she was a redhead as that was her most frequent guise when he'd seen her, fortunately Harry had a good portrait of the woman inside his head and without serious disguising she'd be recognisable to him, after all he'd been able to tell the Weasley twins apart, now that was difficult at times.

After four hours of waiting and constant scanning of the building, Harry noticed a very familiar bike pulling out of the underground garage. Thankful for this as Harry was feeling a bit sore from sitting on a broom for so long regardless of the multitude of comforting charms placed on the seat; he quickly took up a position above and behind the bike, following the deep reverberations of the exhaust. It took 20 minutes before Harry found himself hovering beside a two bedroom flat on the 3rd floor of a non-descript apartment block. It took 3 hours for Harry to be happy that the girl was alone, multiple castings of homenum revelio had shown no movement from the girl in two hours and there were no other occupants of the flat, the nearest individual being the floor above and opposite. Flying close to the window Harry silenced both his shoes and clothing as well as casting a scent neutralising spell, choosing to ensure silence Harry cast Alohomora silently on the window and began casting a wide area silencing charm to prevent squeaking and banging.

Years of athletics and playing quidditch gave Harry a fluidity to his movements that showed with his sure footed steps into the flat. Once again casting a wide area silencing spell Harry moved slowly to the bedroom, checking his pocket for the viral of veritaserum he had been keeping handy for his favourite assassin. Readying his wand and mentally preparing himself, Harry cast Alohomora on the door and silenced the hinges before slowly pushing the door open. The last thing he remembered was a loud crack noise and then darkness.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

A.N: I do not own Harry Potter, Discworld, or Marvel. The only things I have are a lovely bunch of coconuts and this story.

"HELLO MASTER" intoned the heavy voice of death, not something you want to hear, even when you're the Master of Death.

"What happened Death, what am I doing here?" Harry replied a bit confused, the last thing he'd been doing was breaking and entering into an assassin's apartment. "Hang on, stupid question, I'm dead aren't I."

"YES MASTER, YOU WERE KILLED"

"So what now, ride off into the sunset, my duties fulfilled, must admit I'd have liked to see Teddy grow up, maybe a couple of kids, bit inconvenient and upsetting truth be told." Harry replied sombrely, all traces of his usual flippant attitude now cowered in the absence of any tangible future.

"NO MASTER, YOU SHALL RETURN SOON, WE ARE JUST AWAITING YOUR BODY REPAIRING ITSELF TO A HABITABLE STATE, ONCE COMPLETE YOU SHALL AWAKEN."

Harry blew a massive sigh of relief, the Master of Death role did have some perks, asides from the whole meeting new people and then reaping their soul's thing. In reality he knew he wouldn't be riding off into the sunset, he was immortal, the issue would've been being deposited back into a body of his 18 year old self when he had first united the Deathly Hallows. As much as Harry loved himself, he could still admit that 18 year old Harry was a scrawny runt, his current self was much more like it, it'd taken a couple of years, expensive potions, hard work, and several Davina McCall fitness DVD's to get where he was today.

"So when it's not a serious injury." Although Harry wasn't sure how to classify being shot, as minor. "I'll just return here and await my body being repaired."

"THAT IS CORRECT MASTER, ONLY VAPORISATION OF A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF YOURSELF WOULD RESULT IN A TOTAL RESET. BUT FOR NOW, YOUR TIME IN MY REALM IS COMPLETE, DO TRY TO AVOID DYING WHERE POSSIBLE, IT'LL LOOK EMBARRASSING FOR YOU TO CONTINUE DYING."

Harry awoke with a start, taking a large gasp of breath and instantly cheeking his forehead for damage, hoping to god he didn't have another bloody scar for everyone to gawk at again, the first 17 years of his life with that particular disfigurement was bad enough. His reward for this sudden and shocking action was another sharp cracking sound and a blanket of darkness covering his vision.

"Well that was fucking stupid, stupid trigger happy bitch." It was not a happy Harry that was sat in front of the imposing desk of Death. Fortunately the majority of the time was spent in silence with only the background noises of Death's quill scratching on velum, and the rush of the sand of the billions of egg timers sat upon the shelves behind the desk. All of this being softly interspersed with Harry softly swearing about being an idiot, and how he was going to put that stupid bloody gun where the sun doesn't shine. Soon enough Harry found himself back within his own body on Earth.

"Who the fuck are you and how did you survive?"

Harry took his time thinking through his answer to this and assessing the interrogator. He'd awoken to find himself tied securely to a chair by his wrists and ankles and the majority of his clothes deposited on a table in front of him. The voice of his target he was hearing for the first time, it was calm, unwavering, and indicated a certain familiarity with the process; asides from someone waking up after being shot in the head that is. If Harry was honest with himself, that was reassuring, you don't want an incompetent assassin, Harry had been tortured by all sorts, but it was the professionals that really knew how to make you feel valued, in an unbearably painful sort of way. Nice to see she had a well-rounded set of skills, that said, the rope work was a bit dodgy, but Harry was willing to allow time pressures and her lack of magic for being unable to match the incarcerous for quality of bondage.

"I repeat, who the fuck are you, and how did you survive being shot in the head? Twice!" Apparently Harry had taken too long admiring his situation and thinking things through, this had annoyed the feisty looking redhead. "I swear to god if you don't start talking, you'll be starting to lose appendages."

Harry fixed Red, as he'd not titled her, with a piercing stare, it was quite invasive and would feel to her as if Harry knew every one of her deepest and darkest secrets, Red didn't know it but that was the effect of a wandless legilimency probe, it had a tendency to be clumsy and be a bit loose inside the head, pulling up random memories, not focusing on what was wanted. It was another thirty seconds before Harry spoke, giving up his probe after finding a well organised mind that would require more focus to break into properly. "You know, I lost an appendage once, assuming legs count within that category. That's what you get for fucking about with a sword when drunk I suppose."

This was actually a true story, Harry had decided one night to gain some sword skills seeing as he wielded the Sword of Gryffindor. He'd bought a beautiful replica of the great sword to practice with, better not expose his trainer to any basilisk venom, could result in quite a high turnover for the position if he did. Harry had been out getting drunk with Neville on the anniversary of the end of the war when they decided to duel with swords, it was testament to the sheer volume of firewhiskey knocked back by the pair that neither thought of what could happen. It was fortunate that one of the potions Harry found within the vast Potter family library was for limb regeneration, Harry had commissioned a potions master to brew the draught under secrecy oath and had regrown his left leg within a day, although the process was worse than Skelegrow.

Of course, Harry had looked into patenting the potion, which he'd done, after building greenhouses to hold a monopoly on the rarest ingredients, not that he'd exploit this, he just had good business sense. Andromeda had taken her time to teach Harry about being business savvy, and he'd put those lessons to work, as a result he was now rich, not just rich though, filthy rich. As it turned out the years of being fates bitch had resulted in an elastic effect, he was now flying high, he just hoped these multiple deaths weren't the start of the descent.

Red fixed Harry with a questioning gaze as if debating whether the man in front of was serious or even real. Harry was used to this reaction, his positive outlook could throw some people through a loop.

"Apologies, names Harry, you are?" If anything the conversational approach to the interrogation was another spanner in the works for Red, apparently people didn't just open up like Harry had, nor in such a cheerful manner.

Recovering quickly and attempting to regain the upper hand. "You didn't answer my question, how are you alive?"

"Ah yeah, that, would you believe I was immunised against death, comes in handy that does." It was a flippant stupid response, Harry expected the slap and wasn't disappointed. "I see they remove your sense of humour when you join S.H.I.E.L.D." Red recoiled in shock at this, she had never contemplated that someone would connect her with S.H.I.E.L.D whilst at this apartment and not in her S.H.I.E.L.D uniform.

"What do you know about S.H.I.E.L.D? She asked in a near whisper, this couldn't end well for her or the man in front of her, Fury would be sure to ream her out for being compromised, and not even on foreign soil either.

"Well let me think, big hard on for biometrics, very security conscious, they love a camera, good web design, really top notch website…. Oh yeah, one more thing, you work for them and have killed five men in the past year, that I know of. Nothing else I can think of at the moment." All of this was conveyed with a cheery smile, like a ten year old answering a teacher with a verbatim answer.

This time the assassin did reel back, so much so that she fell back onto her sofa, "How… how do you know about the killings, you weren't there."

"Wasn't I?" Harry replied smugly with a drawl that would put both Malfoy men to shame.

"No, I would've seen you, I know what I'm doing." Her voice was wavering at this point, but her pale face was slowly regaining its colour.

"Well I saw you, the first one was the Dictator in Africa, not sure where, but poisoned with red wine that you handed him, that dress looked good on you, wouldn't mind seeing that again." Harry said all this with what he hoped was a flirty smile, it wasn't the first time he'd turn the tables on his opponent but he always enjoyed the feeling. If he was honest it was a bad habit he'd got into when bantering with Voldemort.

"I've got to call this in" she said distractedly to herself.

"I'm afraid I'm not going to let that happen, as lovely as you are, I'd rather not spend the next week as your guest." As he was saying that Harry wandlessly cast a quick severing charm at the ropes holding his hands, before quickly casting a wide area stunner at the redhead who was caught surprised and whilst still collapsed listlessly on the sofa had no time to react or dodge. Reaching down Harry severed the ankle ropes and stretched as he stood up, his shoulders and back popping in protest, Harry was thinking about the lack of people owning chaise lounge and the rarity of being tied to a piece of furniture comfortably as he collected his belongings. "Thank god she didn't shoot through the cloak, now that would've been annoying, that said, at least I'd be able to use my very first transfiguration spell, haven't used that since first year."

Once he'd collected all of his belongings Harry moved back to the lounge, levitated his former captor onto the chair he had just vacated and conjuring thick ropes that wrapped around the girl. Retrieving his vial of Veritaserum, Harry tipped the girls head back and poured three drops of the liquid onto her tongue, with his wand, He cast a silent enervate, her eyes opening in the glassy state he expected.

"What is your name?" The key to veritaserum was to be direct, indirect answers could be avoided and foisted off with platitudes, rather like the riddles the old coot used to speak in. Unfortunately the response would also be blunt, giving no extenuating details or expanding on the topic.

"Natasha Romanov"

"What is your job?"

"I am part of the Avengers initiative as well as being an assassin for S.H.I.E.L.D."

At this point Harry was side tracked from his planned questions. "Avengers initiative? What's that?"

"We are a group of extraordinary individuals who will protect the Earth when trouble arises."

Harry mulled this over in his mind. "Who else is part of this initiative?"

Maintaining the dopey state, Natasha responded in the same monotone voice. "Iron Man, Bruce Banner, Captain America, Clint Barton, and myself."

Harry had no idea who these people were, but sensing his time was coming to a close he asked one last question. "How did you know I was here?"

With the eyes becoming less glassy Natasha responded. "Pressure pads in the floor, your weight set them off, tracked you on my phone. There are also infrared lasers but they didn't trigger until you were right outside my door." Harry mused, the cloak must also be impervious to lasers, useful to know.

Thinking through the information Harry considered his options, deciding that it was unavoidable that this would be investigated, Harry decided to obliviate his captive and to modify her memory, making her think that she missed her two shots, making the intruder scarper in panic through his entry route. Moving down the hall from the once again unconscious girl, Harry scourified the blood patches, ensuring to catch all the splatter, it wouldn't do for S.H.I.E.L.D to bring in a real life version of Dexter to nail him. Harry also made sure to retrieve the bullets that had been deposited on the carpet when he returned to his body, cleaning them of the blood before banishing them into the wall, to further the illustration that Natasha had missed.

Satisfied with his work he strode back into the living room, he released Natasha from the ropes and levitated her back to the bedroom, casting a sleeping charm on the already disabled agent. Returning to the window that he entered, and cancelling all traces of magic as he did so, he climbed out onto the fire escape, casting more disillusionment charms on himself and his broom, he took off and returned to the Surrey Hotel. He had a lot to think about, and plans to make.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

A.N: I do not own Harry Potter, Discworld, or Marvel. The only things I have are a lovely bunch of coconuts and this story.

Harry had spent a further week in New York performing the usual tourist duties, he'd indulged in cocktails atop the Rockefeller building where he found a British accent really did act as an aphrodisiac in the US, which led to him exploring some New York apartment buildings and the flats inside them. He'd also raided the Lego store for Teddy and bought what seemed like half of the boutique shops for Andromeda, Hermione, and Luna. Neville got the standard gift the two always exchanged when they went abroad, a bottle of locally produced spirit, this time it was a bottle of Perry Tot's Gin.

But Harry wasn't resting on his laurels as he shopped himself to the limits of his patience, he still despised crowds, regardless of them being magical or muggle. Even with notice me not charms, the sheer number of people ensured that people were packed in and in close proximity to Harry. He'd managed to find out who the individuals were behind the names Natasha Romanov had provided, Iron Man was none other than Tony Stark, Harry actually maintained shares in his company, the Goblin's told him that his grandfather had somehow gained possession of these just after WW2, Harry still didn't know the full details, only skipping through the journal he'd found left by the man. Bruce Banner was a well-known scientist specialising in Nuclear Physics; he was also known to become big, green, and very aggressive when angered and his mutation triggered. Harry thought judicious use of calming charms and keeping the even more potent calming potions nearby when interacting with the man would be a wise precaution to take. The issue came in tracking the man down, rumours were that he was secreted away somewhere in Asia, away from the hustle and bustle of Western world, where people moved slower and the demands and stresses weren't so great.

Captain America was also easy to track down, a super soldier created during world war two to fight the Nazi's, frozen in an artic plane crash, and then thawed only recently. His location wasn't exactly a secret, he was frequently seen around NY but Harry had yet to see him. The museum about his exploits was very informative, it was like Harry didn't have to work too much at all, if only the Master of Death role was as accommodating, it used to be without Natasha. Clint Barton was a mystery, Harry couldn't find any information concerning the mysterious man, and he was considering paying Natasha another visit, although this time away from her home turf, though this still posed large risks, Harry did manage to die, twice, last time the two met. It was unlikely the assassin would be more relaxed outside of her safe environment, Harry was mentally comparing the woman to Mad-Eye Moody, both were dangerous, both were paranoid, the only factor Natasha had in her favour at the moment was the lack of facial disfigurement.

Harry thought that his best plan of action was to confront Tony Stark, he had access to the man because of ownership of 3 percent of the Stark Industries. It would all be legit and the chances of death were minimal, although Harry's luck would be sure to intrude on his peaceful plans. Contacting the man's P.A. Pepper Potts, he scheduled an interview at the partially completed Stark tower for the next day, hours before he was due to head back to Britain.

In order to make himself look presentable Harry visited La Rukico Custom Tailors to get a suit, paying an extortionate premium, Harry was quickly measured and the suit was taken away to be altered for the next morning. With all of his tasks completed, Harry walked steadily back to his hotel, taking in the sights and sounds of New York City, deciding to detour through Central Park. It was peaceful, if only Harry knew that this was the most peace he'd have for a couple of weeks he'd have soaked it in as much as possible, taking advantage of the quiet beauty of the park. Harry truly was on the downward descent of the elastic nature of his luck, he just hadn't realised it yet.

The next morning found Harry waking early at six am, he quickly showered and headed for breakfast. Leaving the hotel at seven he began his walk to the tailors to collect his new suit, fortunately the suit was a perfect fit and was perfect for Harry, the style and colour being ideal for the young wizard, if Harry was being honest he much preferred the stylings of a suit over those of robes, robes were cumbersome, excessive, and worst of all, hid the figures of anyone wearing them, who knew that Susan Bones had been so incredibly busty from third year onwards, the other Hufflepuffs certainly hadn't shared that information, Bastards! If Harry had known he might have ended up dating a much more honest and tolerable redhead, it'd been two years after graduation that Harry had found out she had a crush on him throughout fifth year and his teaching her in the DA. What a time to waste pining after Cho, he'd been blind and foolish as a teenager.

Putting those thoughts aside, Harry found himself at the base of the imposing Stark Tower, the words egotistical, arrogant, and grandiose all sprang to the forefront of his mind and were dancing on the tip of his tongue, in the interest of ensuring a smooth meeting, Harry swallowed the desire to say these terms publically, it wouldn't do to insult the man he wanted information from, Harry could be subtle, and avoid the brashness of his interview with Natasha. Met by Pepper Potts within the reception area, which looked almost complete, Harry was greeted with a polite handshake and an introduction and description of the new building, including the state of the art arc reactor. Whilst this conversation was taking place, Harry had been led through the reception area to a bank of elevators, where he was guided into an elevator that was stood slightly apart from the rest.

"This is Mr Stark's personal elevator, it's the only one that goes up to his personal quarters. It requires biometric scans courtesy of Jarvis, our artificial intelligence system, to allow further passage. If you don't have that, I hope you bought some reading material, Tony likes to make people wait, he left a guy in here for four hours once." All of this was conveyed by Pepper in a no nonsense but friendly tone, the woman had perfected her pitch and delivery, talking about unimportant matters that wasted the time it'd take to get to the real reason for being here, no wonder Stark kept her around. Harry was also a man of the world, he knew that it wasn't only business skills that made her a valuable member of the team, appearance was certainly important to a man that was so ego driven that he'd emblazon a building with his name in twenty foot tall letters.

The elevator arrived at the penthouse, a luxuriously furnished space, filled to the brim with cutting edge technology and a helipad visible outside the widow beyond the balcony. Lazing on the sofa was Tony himself, turned half away from the new entries, his focus on a TV showing a senate committee concerning intervention in the Middle East, his chest glowing with the power source for his suits and the only thing keeping the shrapnel in his chest from ripping his heart apart inside out. Harry was nothing if not thorough in his research, although Tony wasn't hard to learn about, almost everything was shared with the press, and they loved reporting on the playboy, current girlfriends, location, and all the sordid details of his life.

"You know I imagined you'd be older, I mean I looked into you, but I could barely find anything, certainly not an age on file, I mean you live in England, I think, or maybe Wales, that's all I've got. You're a ghost Harry Potter, I even checked with some not so public sources if you know what I mean." Tony said this, but only raising from his position and turning to the pair as he spoke Harry's name, it was a classic power play from the American, putting your opponent of balance by giving them a tid-bit of information they'd found and give a hint as to their excellent sources.

It would have disconcerted Harry, had he not used passive legilimency to derive the fact that Tony had played all his cards, he had absolutely all the information that Tony knew about him, Harry was now in control, a feeling he relished after being used by others for the first seventeen years of his life.

"I'm an exceedingly private person Mr. Stark, I prefer the quieter life, and a life of fame doesn't appeal to me." Harry spoke with a conviction that quietened stark and Potts, mystified by the fact that someone so young was so firm in their aims in life, especially considering the fact that he owned three percent of Stark Industry and had the money to do just about anything. It was generally accepted that mixing young men with outrageous amounts of money was a recipe for hedonism, followed swiftly by disaster.

"So how did you come to own part of my company young Harry? I must admit, I've never sold any shares, must have been bought from my father." Stark asked inquisitively.

"I believe they were gifted to my grandfather when he saved your father's life whilst in England during World War 2. I must admit, I haven't looked into it much, so I can't tell you the exact details, but it was generous gesture none the less."

"So why are you here today then, hoping I knew more of the story, tracing the family routes are you?" Stark was still in the dark concerning Harry, it wasn't often that he was completely blank, between Jarvis and his own genius he was usually pretty clued up on a subject. Hoping that he'd picked the right subject with the family route, Stark plugged on bravely. "Afraid I can't help you with that though, never knew any Potters, you'll have to search for answers elsewhere."

Harry despite not being able to learn more about his family was still happy with the meagre details that had been revealed. His grandfather had played a part in WW2, although he was probably more active in the fight against Grindelwald than in the muggle efforts to vanquish Hitler. It was still nice to see that the past three generations of Potter had all done their bit to keep people safe, although with varying levels of success and levels of involvement, Harry was sure he'd have heard more about his grandfather if he'd been a central element to the Grindelwald war.

Deciding to be open and direct with Stark, rather than trying to be indirect, Harry quickly admitted his reason for being in New York. "I must admit, I'm not here for that, it's actually something more modern that I'm concerned with. Do you know what the Avengers Initiative is Mr. Stark? I recently found some information on them and I want to know more."

It seemed Harry had a penchant for shocking people and knocking them off their feet; watching a man as cool and collected as Stark fall into a nearby chair with a grave look on his face was thrilling, apparently the Avengers was serious business, Harry couldn't wait to find out the truth of the matter. "Where did you find out that information, you even say that in the wrong place and you'll be locked away for the rest of your life. Hell, they could even kill you, I implore you to keep quiet for your own good." The fact that Tony could be quite selfish, meant that this warning was serious, it did slightly worry Harry, just when he thought he'd got the measure of S.H.I.E.L.D, but apparently they could go to some quite diabolical lengths to maintain their secrecy. It's one thing to kill a leader oppressing and killing thousands, another to be just as ruthless with civilians.

"I saw it in one of my grandfather's journals, he mentioned working with the man they called the first avenger in some capacity, not sure what he did though, I guess you could say I'm trying to trace the family history, albeit in a very strange way, that apparently is more dangerous than I thought it would be." Harry chuckled, Stark just stared at the man, he'd just laughed off the threat of the most powerful government agencies going. It was like the man didn't care or thought himself impervious to the claws of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Regardless, you need to be careful." Whatever Stark was about to say next was cut off by a beeping noise emitted by a hidden speaker.

"Sir. Agent Coulson is here, he wishes to speak to you urgently." Tony's face paled.

"How the fuck have they bugged a brand new building. Jarvis you were meant to scan this place all the time, must have been Romanov, no one else could get in, certainly not that technophobe Steve." Stark muttered to himself. "Jarvis, where's Coulson?"

"Behind you Stark, we need to talk."


End file.
